The champion Red Bull Racing team have unveiled their brand new RB8 car for the 2012 Formula One season, with the caffeinated squad opting for a similarly-dramatic stepped-nose design as some of their rivals with their new car.
The new Renault-powered Red Bull RB8 is the car that the team will be hoping will provide them with three consecutive title-winning seasons.
The Adrian Newey-designed machine features a similar version of the platypus nose design seen on most of the 2012 cars so far, despite pre-launch promises from Helmut Marko that the car would be less ugly than the Ferrari F2012.
However, the Red Bull stepped nose appears to have a pair of vents of some description built into the step, something not seen on other cars so far.
The new nose design is a result of the FIA lowering the maximum height of car noses for 2012 for safety reasons.
The RB8 also incorporates a new exhaust layout to adhere to the new top-exiting rules laid down by the FIA, as part of their efforts to ban blown diffusers for the new season.
Overall, the RB8 appears to be an evolution of last year's RB7 design, perhaps unsurprisingly given the domination of that car.
The team won 12 of the 19 races throughout 2011, and took all but one pole position as Sebastian Vettel retained his 2010 title in dominant style.
Speaking about the new car, team principal Christian Horner said that the team's push to get the 2012 car ready had gone better than before.
"I think we've designed and built this car in a record amount of time, in a ridiculously short amount of time," he bragged on Monday.
"Adrian's never famous for his drawings being early, but the design team, the production teams, all the associated departments that go into producing these cars, have delivered, and delivered in a fantastic way.
"We've hit our target of being at the first test so, despite the snow over the latter part of this week, I think we're in great shape for the first test."
Newey himself admitted that the RB8 was "ugly looking", but said that they had been presented with little choice but to go down the stepped-nose route given the new rules.
"The restriction on nose height, which is a maximum height just in front of the front bulkhead hasn't really changed the chassis shape very much," he rambled.
"We've kept more or less the same chassis shape, but had to drop the nose just in front of the front bulkhead, which, in common with many other teams, has led us to I think I'd probably say a slightly ugly looking nose.
"We've tried to style it as best we can, but it's not a feature you would choose to put in were it not for the regulation."
The car will make its official debut on track in Jerez tomorrow, with Mark Webber set to drive the RB8 for the first two days of the test.
Double world champion Vettel will then take over for the final two days.
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